Despite being born in a digital age and being equipped with many digital tools, the 1M retains that true analogue feel that the old school motoring enthusiast still craves. BMW fully succeeded in delivering this.

We live in an era of hands free dialling, touch screen control and flappy paddles. The 1M with its 6 speed manual gearbox was a joy for the true petrol head, who loves real driving rather than switching to auto pilot.

Long term Motorsport owners and enthusiasts were highly cynical of a turbo charged M car, however once behind the wheel and when using a heavy right foot, the purist’s doubts quickly dissolve. This breathed on N54T engine delivered 335 bhp and when full throttle settings are used and all 6 gear ratios worked to their optimum, the 1M becomes a near-perfectly balanced true hooligan’s delight. Twin staged turbo charging means a staggering torque figure of 450 Nm, meaning this Jekyll and Hyde engine will pull itself along at 1100rpm and can be very docile.

Suspension was kept simple, with no EDC offered as an option. Incredible grip through the 19” rims and staggered 245 front and 265 rear tyres give the 1M go cart style handling.

This stunning 1M in Valencia Orange has some very cool history! It started life as part of BMWs Press Fleet until 19 November 2012. The car was handed over to Steve Sutcliffe at Autocar to review as his long term test car. The Top Gear team also got a taste of this 1M for them to critique. To quote Jeremy Clarkson “it’s a brilliant car. Honestly, I haven’t driven anything this perfect since the original Golf GTi”. During this time the PDI, running in service and all maintenance was carried out at BMWs head office workshop.

From being a BMW press car, it was sent back to BMW (UK) Ltd, pulled apart and put back together wanting for nothing. The level of maintenance it receive far exceeded that of a normal road car.

The next and current owner brought the car from Ocean BMW in Plymouth with only 14,135 miles under its belt. Since then the car has had full BMW main dealer service history by Ocean BMW of Plymouth. It was last serviced at 63,037 miles in December 2018 and comes with every single invoice, service wallet, handbooks and original set of keys.

For a long time now we have been struggling to supply E28 M5s to an ever growing list of customers keen to get their hands on BMWs ultimate super saloon. With only 187 European right hand drive examples.....